Antti Heikkilä, MD is Finland’s self-styled “leading dissident” in Medicine and Nutrition. Vilified & attacked for his unconventional views on nutrition and his success with reversing T2D in literally 1000’s of patients, Antti is largely ignored by the Finnish media & hardly ever gives interviews, especially in English. LIHF Living gave him the opportunity to speak out in his own words. This is his story..

“When I graduated from Helsinki University in 1970 I was both frustrated and disappointed. I found medicine to be just a series of opinions lacking a solid scientific base & method with which to make observations of reality. I drifted into emergency and orthopedic surgery. It felt meaningful to help people whose lives had suddenly become a disaster. During that time, both intensive care and spinal surgery were evolving tremendously, something I became interested in. I was happy helping people back to a fulfilling life after spinal injury.

I found medicine to be just a series of opinions

“However, I very soon found that back pain surgery was becoming largely meaningless. I started to find other means to treat my patients. It was then that I discovered manipulation. There are many disciplines with which to practice spinal manipulation. I quickly learned how to manage chronic pain using these simple techniques. Then I created my own method. I found that these traditional manipulative methods and related philosophies were very old-fashioned, in a positive way. The real reason for chronic back pain is tension within the deep supporting spinal muscles. It is a classic psychosomatic problem. I presented the idea of pain management to my boss. He got angry and said, “Damn it Heikkilä, you should not talk about these things at this clinic!”. However, I could not go back to the past and so I left the clinic and I began working for myself. Besides, I have never really liked playing golf! I hit upon the idea to try & treat patients without drugs or surgery and, as far as that goal was concerned, I was successful, but it wasn’t easy going by any means!

So I left the clinic and I began working for myself. Besides, I have never really liked playing golf!

“I used to often visit New York. It was there that I met a psychiatrist by the name of Richard Ribner. He did not use drugs in his practice. Instead, he only talked to his patients, providing them with nutritional advice and coming up with some very good results. He became my guru. Through him I got to know Abram Hoffer, the founder of Orthomolecular Medicine as well as the ideas of Linus Pauling, John Yudkin and yes, of course, Robert Atkins. The only media supporting these views & ideas at the time was the Townsend Letter which is still going today. That was back in the mid 1970´s. In principle, I adopted all these ideas, which are now slowly becoming popular again. Back in those days, the term “Black is beautiful” was very much “in vogue” and to me they really were. Coming from Finland, where everybody is more or less mute and as stiff as an iron rod, these people appeared to me to be very beautiful. “Soul food” was very much the trend but now it´s “Fast food” and we can see the results, especially among poor black people. It’s just another form of slow genocide.

But now it´s “Fast food” and we can see the results, especially among poor black people. It’s just another form of slow genocide.

“Dealing with my chronic pain patients, I realized that there was another important factor involved, other than muscle tension. It was inflammation, specifically due to lifestyle & diet, and so I started to use food as a remedy, with excellent results. Gradually I became aware that the “official guidelines” were totally false. My colleagues considered me to be a bit of a weirdo and it was a complete waste of time even trying to talk to them. However, since I was getting remarkably good results with my patients they left me in peace.

Ever since then I have been harassed in many ways. My website has been hacked many times.. As far as the Finnish media are concerned I do not exist.

“I started to write books about my ideas. I wrote books in a language that all could understand. The real conflict arose when I wrote a book about diabetes & how it is possible to achieve drug-free remission through nutrition only. The Finnish Medical Journal published a crushing criticism of the book. At the same time, the Finnish Diabetes Association sent a circular to all bookstores informing them that my book was “dangerous”. It was strange but that was their desperate attempt to censor my book. The Finnish Medical Journal did not publish my counter comment even though I was a member of the Finnish Medical Association. They did not make a formal complaint either because a year earlier, the same thing had happened in Sweden. A female doctor by the name of Annika Dahlqvist was giving free advice to diabetes patients on the web. Some nutritional therapists made a formal complaint and requested the authorities withdraw her medical license. The matter was investigated by a Professor who considered Low Carb to be part of the “traditional” treatment for diabetes and Ms Dahlqvist was allowed to continue practicing medicine. Frankly it would have been embarrassing if the same scenario would have happened in Finland and so the authorities backed off. Ever since then I have been harassed in many ways. My website has been hacked many times. After I published an updated and extended edition of my diabetes book, ‘big brother’ has taken an aggressive stance towards me. A new attempted means of leverage was the total manipulation of my Facebook pages. My Gmail account was out of service for a long time and valuable files were lost. These denunciations originated in Finland and as far as the Finnish media are concerned I do not exist.

My colleagues considered me to be a bit of a weirdo..

“Despite all this I remain optimistic. I have experience in diabetes remission with over 2,000 patients now, something which is simply not science according to the medical elite. More and more people are starting to vote with their feet. They cannot prevent change and the change is not just about food & diet, but everything they have been telling us. I find the subject of epigenetics very interesting and I believe that this will be a major game-changer in the coming years. The best part of all is that this is something that is perfectly natural for all of us, if only we realized it.”

You can find out more about Antti, his work & his writings (mostly in Finnish) via his website here..

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Thank you for this article. I have been on, or at least trying to maintain a low-carb high-fat diet. It has so far and help me to lose some weight. However, I am really addicted to foods that are high in carbohydrates. I sometimes have a rough time of it. Last year I lost the nearly a total of 40 pounds, but I have now gained back about 12 to 13 pounds. It all started during the Christmas holidays. I will not give up though. Being on the diet makes me feel better. I’m hoping to avoid being diagnosed with diabetes. I am already somewhat insulin resistant. I am thankful for doctors like yourself. My doctor has also been supportive of my diet choice.